Onion Feta Quiche with Balsamic Reduction

Onion lovers, I have a perfect recipe for you. A mild flavor quiche filled with creamy Feta cheese and sweet onions, and drizzled with tangy balsamic vinegar reduction. Sounds good, right? It's also very light but filling enough. 
I'm always so surprised that so many people don't like onions. I don't imagine any savory dish without them. Seriously, they're my favorite veggie. And this quiche, believe me, is FULL of onions. It's really good by its own, but balsamic reduction makes it irresistible.

Onion Feta Quiche with Balsamic Reduction

Pastry:
125g (1 cup) flour
28g (1/4 stick) butter, cold
1 egg
1 tbsp ice water

Filling:
2 tbsp oil
4 onions (450g), thinly sliced
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
180ml (3/4 cup) milk
100g feta cheese, divided
1 tsp dried herbs
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper

Balsamic reduction:
1 cup balsamic vinegar
1 tsp sugar

1) Make the crust: In a bowl, add flour and cut in the butter. Mix with your fingertips until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Beat in the egg. Now add 1 tablespoon of cold water and knead. The dough must be soft, elastic but not sticky. You may add more/less water. Roll out the dough and press into the bottom of a greased 18cm baking dish. Refrigerate while you prepare the filling.

2) In a large saucepan, heat 2 tablespoons of oil. Add onions and garlic and cook until softened and lightly caramelized. Remove from heat and let cool. Mix in salt, dried herbs and black pepper.

3) In a bowl, combine together milk and eggs. Set aside.

4) Crumble half of the Feta cheese on top of the dough. Spread onion mixture on top of the cheese and top with remaining crumbled Feta. Pour egg/milk mixture. Do not mix. Bake in a 180C (350F) preheated oven for 35-40 minutes.

5) While it is baking, you can make the balsamic reduction. Add balsamic vinegar and sugar to a small saucepan and bring to boil. Once it starts bubbling, reduce the heat to the lowest and cook, uncovered, until it's reduced by half.

Serve warm drizzled with balsamic vinegar. I actually loved it the next day. I didn't even reheat it and enjoyed it cold.

Recipe by collecting memories

Caramelized Onion Pumpkin Galette with Feta Cheese & Balsamic Sauce

Fall is almost here and it's time to start cooking with my favourite veggie - pumpkin! Why favourite? Because pumpkin is great with everything. Really, I couldn't think of anything that would taste wrong with pumpkin. You can make anything from pie to ice cream or from bread to stew.

And yes, summer wasn't very productive for me. I've only posted.. hmm how many times.. once? Yes, once. Shame on me. But now I definitely have much more ideas and recipes to try and write about. And here's one of them! This galette wasn't planned, I just had some leftover feta cheese in my fridge which was about to expire so I had to make something with it. I didn't expect anything special, but this galette came out surprisingly good! No, it was freakin' amazing! The dough is simple, a little bit flaky with crunchy edges but still soft and a little bit chewy. And that amazing pumpkin and caramelized onion filling topped with salty crumbled feta and drizzled with slightly sweet reduced balsamic... Yum! This is definitely a keeper!

Caramelized Onion Pumpkin Galette with Feta Cheese & Balsamic Sauce
Pastry:
185g flour
15ml /1 tbsp oil
pinch salt
1 small egg
60ml/1/4 cup water

Filling:
2 tbsp olive oil
2 onions (265g), sliced
4 cloves garlic, minced
250g grated pumpkin
1 tsp salt
1 tsp dried parsley
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp dried thyme
50g feta cheese

Reduced Balsamic Sauce:
1/2c balsamic vinegar
1-2 tsp sugar

1) Mix flour, salt and olive oil with a fork. Add egg and mix to combine. Add water and mix until the mixture forms into a ball. Dust your hands with flour and knead for a few minutes, just until it holds together. The dough shouldn't be sticky. Transfer to a lightly oiled bowl and place in the fridge while you make the filling. (Usually I'm too lazy to oil the bowl so I just throw it in the fridge and leave it).

2) Preheat oven to 200C (400F).

3) In a small saucepan, place balsamic vinegar and sugar and bring to boil. Once it starts boiling, reduce the heat to low and let simmer until the vinegar is reduced in half.

4) Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a large saucepan. Add onions and cook, covered, for about 5 minutes over medium-high heat. When they start browning, stir once, cover and leave to cook a little bit more. You can reduce the heat and/or add more oil if they brown too quickly. Once the onions are nicely brown, soft and fragrant, add garlic, pumpkin, salt, parsley, oregano and thyme. Stir, cover and cook over medium heat until the pumpkin softens, from 5 to 10 minutes. Taste and add more salt if needed. Turn off the heat and leave uncovered.

5) Take the dough out of the fridge and roll it out into a 2-3mm thick circle. Transfer it to the baking tray (dusted with flour!). Spread the filling onto the dough, leaving about 5cm space on the edges. Sprinkle with feta cheese and fold the edges over the filling. (You could brush the edges of the pastry with egg wash but, again, I was too lazy to do that and I don't think it's necessary).

6) Bake for 15-20 minutes. Let cool for 5-10 minutes and drizzle with balsamic sauce. Serve immediately.

Enjoy!

Recipe by collecting memories

Crostini with Camembert, Caramelized Onions and Fig Jam

A few weeks ago my mom brought me lots of cheese from France. I was literally forced to eat it every day because I really had so many of different cheeses and their expiration date was coming near. But it's so boring to eat cheese with baguette all the time, isn't it? So I had to think of something more fancy to make out of them. Of course, Crostini was the first dish that came to my mind and it was a completely perfect idea. Crunchy bread rubbed with garlic, topped with soft Camembert, fig jam and caramelized onions. Amazing. 

Crostini with Camembert, Caramelized Onions and Fig Jam

1 long French baguette
Olive oil
1-2 cloves garlic
~300g Camembert cheese

2 small onions, sliced
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
Pinch salt
1 tsp sugar
Olive oil
Fig Jam

1) Preheat oven to 230C. Prepare two baking trays.

2) Slice baguette into 1,5-2cm pieces. Brush one side with oil and arrange on baking tray (olive oiled side down). Bake for a few minutes until golden.

3) Take out of the oven and let cool slightly. Rub garlic over the olive oiled side of crostini. 

4) In a small saucepan, heat 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil. Cook onions until translucent. Add salt, sugar and balsamic vinegar and cook, covered, for a few minutes until completely soft and fragrant. Let cool completely.

5) Top each slice of baguette with Camembert. Top half of them with onions and another half - with a teaspoon of fig jam.

Enjoy!

Recipe by collecting memories

Crispy Vegetable Fritters with Spicy Balsamic Sauce

Sometimes amazing things happen out of nothing! I created this recipe completely from scratch. I actually ran out of eggs and everything I had was onions, carrots, potatoes and lots of seasonings. Is it possible to make anything out of these few ingredients?? No cheese, no butter, no eggs..Yes! What I made is super simple and quick. But the crazy mixture of seasonings, small size of the fritters and the fantastic balsamic sauce made this simple dish outstanding. I basically shredded all the veggies I had and mixed in a variety of spices. Together they created an amazing combination and what I liked most was cinnamon! There was just a hint of it, you may not even notice it, but it did add some nice flavour. These were super crispy and yummy. I dipped them into my favourite balsamic sauce and enjoyed them all day long. Will be definitely making these again and again!

Crispy Vegetable Fritters with Spicy Balsamic Sauce

Olive oil, for frying
2 onions, finely chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 carrot, shredded
2 small potatoes, shredded
pinch salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp chili powder
1/3 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried oregano
60g flour

1) In a bowl, combine together all the ingredients.

2) In a skillet over medium-high heat, heat some olive oil to coat the bottom (don't be afraid to add a LOT, you want tour fritters to be crispy!)

2) With your hands, form little balls (4-5cm) and flatten them a little, place onto the hot oil and fry a few minutes until golden brown on both sides.

Spicy Balsamic Sauce:

1 cup water
4 tbsp balsamic vinegar
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 tsp ground ginger
1 tbsp honey
1/4 tsp ground white pepper

1) In a saucepan, combine all the ingredients and cook on low heat until the quantity is reduced by half. Strain through a sieve to discard the garlic. Let cool completely.

Enjoy!!

Recipe by collecting memories

Brie Quesadillas

Brie Quesadillas

2 tbsp olive oil
1 red bell pepper, chopped into thin strips
1 onion, chopped into thin strips
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp sugar
pinch salt
100g soft brie cheese, sliced
2 wheat tortillas
tomato sauce, to serve

1) In a saucepan, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add onions, garlic and bell pepper. Cover and cook until softened and a little bit browned, stirring occasionally.

2) Add balsamic vinegar, sugar, salt and ginger. Stir to combine, cover, and cook until the liquid has been absorbed.

3) Remove cooked mixture from the saucepan into a bowl. Place 1 tortilla in the saucepan. Spread half of the cooked mixture on one half on the tortilla, arrange half of the cheese and cover with another side of tortilla. Press gently. Cover and cook on both sides until the cheese has melted and the sides are golden brown. Repeat with the remaining tortilla.

4) Remove from heat and slice. Serve warm with some tomato sauce.

 

Recipe by collecting memories

Balsamic Mushrooms

Balsamic Mushrooms

Olive oil for cooking

8 extra large or 400g mushrooms, chopped into medium chunks

4 garlic cloves, finely chopped 

100ml balsamic vinegar
100ml light cream
Salt, to taste

Pepper. to taste

1) In a saucepan, heat two tablespoons of olive oil. Add mushrooms and garlic, toss to coat, cover and let cook until mushrooms release their liquid. Uncover and cook until almost all the liquid has evaporated. 

2) Pour in the balsamic vinegar and cook uncovered until it almost evaporates. Slowly pour in the cream and cook a few more minutes. You may want to increase the heat at this time. Season with salt & pepper and turn off the heat when there's still some liquid left in the pan.

Serve warm on toasted bread.

Makes enough for 4 slices of bread.

Recipe by collecting memories